The Twilight Saga: Crescent Moon
by Keavy F
Summary: Edward leaves Forks after the fight with James. Jasper needs to learn to control his thirst better, so decides to go with him for the time being. This leaves Bella and Alice to comfort each other. Bella/Alice in later chapters.
1. Loss and Leaving

Parameters: After the fight with James, Edward saved Bella by sucking the venom out of her. Feeling extremely guilty about putting Bella in danger in the first place, he decides to leave Forks and Bella, never to return again. The story begins right after Carlisle, Edward and Alice have taken Bella to the hospital.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Loss and leaving**

Edward POV:

Alice turns around and looks at me with wide eyes. Then she yells at me 'WHAT?! You're leaving her? You're leaving Forks? After everything that has happened?!'

My dear sister and her visions, they can be a real pest sometimes, the visions I mean of course. I have just decided to do exactly what she just accused me of. I'm going to leave Forks and with that Bella. Alice clearly had a vision of me leaving as I made my mind up just now.

In a voice filled with regret but determination I answer 'Yes, Alice. I'm leaving. Especially after what has happened today. I've put Bella in danger and I nearly got her killed, she isn't safe around me. I should have known better than to get involved with her in the first place. She is a human, she can't be around monsters like me, like us. I knew from the beginning that she would get hurt in one way or another, but I was too blinded by my love for her to see clearly.'

I am reading Alice's thoughts right now and I can tell she is furious with me. All of sudden her thoughts become more calm and I turn around to see Jasper standing a few feet away from us. He probably sensed Alice's emotions through the strong connection they have and decided to come and see why his wife is so upset.

'Edward, Alice, what's going on?' Jasper asks while stepping closer to Alice and draping an arm around her shoulders to calm her down some more.

'I was just telling Alice that I have decided to leave Forks. She doesn't agree with my decision.' I tell him.

Jasper looks at me intensely for a few seconds, trying to read my emotions. I don't try to block him and give his mind access to mine. There is a myriad of emotions in my head right now, regret and determination the ones that stand out most. His eyes seem to shift a bit and I can see that he understands that I have to leave. He nods at me and then he turns to Alice, who has been watching him intently the whole time.

'Honey, I know you don't agree with the decision Edward has made, but I just read him and his mind is set. There isn't anything either of us can do to change his mind about this.' Alice looks at him stricken for a moment and it seems like she wants to protest, but right at that moment another vision hits her. When she snaps out of it she looks at Jasper, shock and sadness clearly visible on her features. What she says next shocks me a bit too.

'You're leaving too? Why Jasper? Why the hell can't you both stay?'

Jasper proceeds to take both of her hands in his. With a pained expression he begins to explain 'Alice, you and I both know how hard I have been struggling to control my hunger around humans and we both know it hasn't been easy. Eventhough being around Bella was getting easier for me, I don't think I can control myself after smelling her blood tonight. I haven't been able to get the smell of it out of my mind. I just don't think that I can show any restraint at the moment. So it is better that I leave for a little while.'

I think that if Alice could have cried, she would have broken out in tears at this moment. She flings herself at Jasper and clings to him with all she is worth. I decide it is best to give them some privacy and to let them say their goodbyes. Jasper catches my eye and I tell him:

'I'll wait outside for you by the car.'

He nods at me and turns his attention back to Alice, who is still hugging him fiercely. I walk out of the hospital, into the parking lot. I am in emotional turmoil, but I can't loose my resolve now. I have to leave, I have to leave tonight, for Bella's sake. I know me leaving like this will cause her great emotional pain, but if I stay I will not only cause her that, but physical pain too. I can't stand the thought of doing either to her, but I have to choose the lesser of the two evils. I just hopes she finds it in her heart to forgive me some day.

* * *

Alice POV:

That a vampire's heart doesn't beat and that we're technically dead, doesn't mean that we can't feel emotions like joy or sadness. What I'm feeling now is the latter. Seeing the vision of Edward leaving us made me feel sad, because he is my brother and I love him. But Jasper telling me that he is leaving us, or rather me, too, makes me not just feel sad. It is breaking my heart into tiny pieces.

Ever since we got married, we haven't spend more than two or three weeks apart. And those few weeks apart have always been hard on us. Now he is leaving for God knows how long, and I can't even stand the thought of that. I want him to stay, I need him to stay!

I lift my head from where it has been resting on Jasper's shoulder but I keep holding on to him. I tilt my head up further and start to speak:

'Jasper, please…'

'No Alice', he just totally cut me off, he never does that, which makes me realise he's dead serious about this, 'I'm not prepared to argue about this. I know that you don't want me to leave, and frankly neither do I, but we both know that it is best for now.'

I stare long and hard into his eyes, and see the same things in his as I had just seen in Edward's. Sadness and determination. I drop my head in defeat. There really is no point in arguing with him, or pleading with him to stay.

'For how long will you be gone?' I ask him in a defeated voice.

'I honestly don't know, my love. It could be 3 months, it could be longer.' He releases me with one arm and I feel his finger under my chin, lifting my head up for me to meet his gaze.

'I don't know for how long I'll be gone, but I do know that I'm coming back to you, that I promise you. And I'll stay in touch while I'm away from Forks. I'll call and write every week, so you know where I am and how I'm faring. I'll also make sure that Edward does the same.'

'Do you promise?' I know he will do everything he has just told me, but right now I just need some extra conformation. I'm about to say goodbye to my husband and I won't be seeing him for a long time, so I need to know for sure that we'll at least keep in touch.

'Yes, I promise.' He smiles a little smile at me, but the emotion doesn't reach his eyes. Then he speaks again 'I have to go now, Edward's waiting for me.'

I let out a sob and burry my head in his shoulder again, while he hugs me fiercely. We stay like this for a few minutes, until I feel his arms loosen. I lift my head up and tilt my mouth up to his. We share a soft and lingering kiss, that will be our last for quite some time. Eventually we break apart, not because we need the air, but because it is really time for him to go now.

He starts to turn away from me slowly and I keep holding on to his hands until he is out of reach. We hold each other's eyes, up until he rounds a corner and disappears from sight.

I feel like I am going to break down. But before I get the chance to, Renee steps out of Bella's hospital room and walks towards me.

'Alice, Bella has just woken up. She's asking for Edward. He said he was going to get some coffee, but that was about twenty minutes ago and he hasn't returned yet. Do you know where he is?'

Bella. Lost in my own misery, I had almost forgotten about poor Bella. Who I now had to go tell that Edward, the love of her life, had left Forks and with that, her.


	2. Death is easy, life is harder

**Chapter 2: Death is easy, life is harder.**

Bella POV:

'Bella?'

'Mom?' Not the person I need to see right now. 'Where is he? Where is Edward?' I barely manage to croak out. I don't care what state I'm in, I need to see him. I need to know he's with me.

'He has gone to get some coffee. He hasn't left your side for more than a few minutes. And your dad, he's down in the cafeteria.'

Coffee? Since when does Edward drink coffee? Since when does Edward drink, period. Oh God, my head! James knocked me around pretty hard, I'm lucky Edward showed up just in time. Wait! What does mom think has happened? They couldn't have just told her the truth?!

'What happened?'

She's saying something about Edward and Carlisle coming after me to try and convince me to come back to Forks. Apparently I fell down some stairs and went threw a window. That's definitely not how I remember it, but I see how mom would believe that in an instant. I am after all the worlds biggest klutz.

'Yeah that sounds like me. Do you mind getting Edward? I really need to thank him.'

Mom looks at me strangely for a second. 'Of course honey. I'll go get him and I'll go get a nurse, OK?' She walks out of the room, which leaves me with some time to examine myself. I lift up the blanket to survey the damage. My right leg is in shambles. It is the leg that James broke to taunt Edward and it is the leg which landed in the glass, thus the cut in it's upper part. God! There is that headache again. I move a hand up to feel the back of my head. I wince as I touch the big lump that has formed there. Then I hear a knock on my door. Edward!

'Come in!' I say while hastily covering myself up again with the blanket. When I'm decent I look up to find…

'Alice?' Definitely not Edward. She sits down on the side of my bed and smiles at me, but by the look in her eyes I can tell that something is wrong. And whatever it is, I don't think I'm going to like it.

* * *

Alice POV:

By the way she just looked at me I can tell that she thought I was Edward. She was smiling, but when she saw me standing by her bed instead of him, her smile faltered. I sit down on the side of the bed and smile a small smile at her. She is studying me now, and I can sense that she knows that something isn't right. Her mouth tightens a bit and her features harden, it's like she is automatically steeling herself for the worst. Which in this case, might be best, considering I have to break her heart in a few moments. I think I'll start lightly and ease her into it.

'Hi Bella, how are you feeling?' She opens her mouth to respond, but she closes it again. She repeats this action a few times. She looks like she is deciding whether to answer my question or ask me where the hell Edward is. She decides against the latter.

'I'm doing fine, considering I was tossed around like a rag doll, and nearly got killed, by a vampire.' She tries to say this in a humorous voice, but her attempt fails and she sounds kind of nervous. This confirms to me that she really does know something isn't right. I also know that she is dying to ask me what it is, but she is controlling herself rather well.

'I'm glad you're doing OK Bella. I would have hated to have lost my best friend.' This time I smile sincerely at her, to let her now that I meant what I said. I truly do consider her to be my best friend and I need her to know that right now. I reach a hand out to her and brush some hair that had fallen into her face, behind her ear. I let my hand linger on her face a bit before I lay it back in my lap. The room is quiet for a moment while I look at her. Then she speaks.

'So, what happened? Where's James?'

Not the question I was expecting, but I'll answer it nonetheless. 'We took care of him. And the woman, Victoria, she ran off.' She's looking at me expectantly and I know she wants me to continue. Before I get the chance to do just that, she finally asks the question she has been dying to ask.

'Where's Edward? I'm alive because of him, I need to see him, to thank him.'

What do I do now? I can't lie to her, that wouldn't be right. But I don't want to be the one to break this to her and cause her pain. God damn you, Edward! Why did you have to be a coward and run away. There is no easy way of saying this, so here goes.

'Edward.. Edward feels that you're in here because of him. He blames himself for everything that has happened and he.. he..' I falter and turn my head away, I can't do this.

'He what Alice? He what?' Bella asks me with a shaking voice. 'Is he alright? Where is he?'

I'm so sorry Bella. 'He left Bella, he left Forks.' I turn my head back to look at her. First her face goes completely blank, while her mind tries to wrap around what I just told her. She looks at me confused for a moment.

'What? N.. Are you se.. No! No! How, I don't even know what you're say.. What are you.. What are you talking about? You.. He, he went away? No! He can't.. he can't just leave me. I..' Her rambling stops for a moment and she looks at me defeated. Then in a broken voice she whispers 'We can't be apart, he can't leave me.'

Before I know what's happing I have her wrapped up in a hug, and her head is buried against my neck. At first she doesn't move and just sits still in my arms, but after a minute or two I feel her trembling and then she starts shaking. I feel her silent tears wetting my neck and after a few moments she starts sobbing too. She is full on crying now and it is breaking my heart into tiny pieces. I don't know what to do, but to keep her wrapped up in my arms and to whisper in her ear that everything is going to be alright, while I rock her back and forth.

* * *

Alice POV:

I comforted Bella until she fell asleep in my arms, tears still staining her cheeks. I lay her down gently on the bed and wiped the remaining tears off her face with my thumbs. The poor girl was exhausted physically and emotionally, but after what she had been through these past few days that was no surprise. She looked so fragile right then and there. I softly caressed her cheek before I pulled my hand away. Just then Renee stepped back into the room with a nurse in tow.

I motioned at them to be quiet by putting my finger against my lips. I looked at Renee and nodded towards the door, silently asking her to step outside with me while the nurse checked up on Bella. In the hallway I proceeded to tell her about Edward leaving town and how Bella had responded to the news. She looked both incredibly angry and incredibly sad. She took a moment to try to control her emotions and then she asked me to stay with Bella, because she needed her friend right now. I told her that I would gladly stay by her side and try to help her through the next few days.

The nurse came out of Bella's room and told us that she was recovering quite nicely. While she talked some more to Renee about the physical condition Bella was in, I walked back into her room, worrying about her emotional condition. She was still laying in the same position as I had left her in. I was about to sit down in one of the chairs, when I heard her murmuring quietly.

'No, no.. don't leave me!' She began trashing around a bit in her sleep, which wasn't a good idea, considering her injuries. I quickly walked over to the bed and sat down by her side. I grabbed hold of her hands and tried to soothe her with the same words as before.

'Shh Bella, it's alright, I won't leave you, I'm here, I'm here.' This seemed to calm her down and a few minutes later she was once again sleeping peacefully. Instead of walking back to my chair, I lay down next to Bella on the bed and continued holding her throughout the night.


	3. Dealing

**In my story, Jacob is already a werewolf. **

**Chapter 3****: Dealing**

APOV:

It has been nearly a week since the day I told her that Edward had left. That means it has also been nearly a week that I've last seen Jasper. Surprisingly enough, I haven't thought about him as much as I thought I would. But that's mainly because I have been worried about Bella.

We haven't been apart since the hospital. I held her through that night and she clung to me so tightly. She has been clinging to me like that this whole time. It's like she needs me to keep her grounded, to keep her sane.

The first three days were the roughest for her. During the day she kept bursting out in tears randomly. She looked like she wanted to scream in agony, but she refused to do so and instead kept quiet. Bottling up the agony inside her. During the night she didn't have that control however. She repeatedly woke up from nightmares screaming, and it would always take a lot of comforting from me to calm her down. Besides the screaming, I didn't hear her voice for three two days.

The fourth day I noticed a change in her emotional state. The random outbursts of tears got less and less, and she actually managed to talk to me. We didn't really discuss anything, she would just ask me a question like 'Could you open the window for me?' or 'Could you get me a glass of water?' and I would reply and grant her request.

Oh, did I mention she rarely left her bed? She only got up if she needed to go to the bathroom or take care of some other human necessity. I don't know what's so appealing about lying in your bed all day, but I figured that's her way of dealing with things, so I didn't comment on it.

Today, day six, she surprised me. When she woke up this morning she left my arms and walked out of her room, to proceed towards the stairs. I used my advanced vampire hearing to track her movements. I heard her bustling about in the kitchen and after a minute or two I heard her talking to Charlie.

Charlie, he didn't take the news of Edward leaving too bad at first, he actually seemed quite pleased that he had left. But when he saw how it affected his daughter… Let's just say he wasn't so pleased anymore. He was at a loss of what to do. Seeing that his daughter had just come back into his life, he had never had to deal with something of this proportion, so this threw him for a loop. Especially when Renee left to be with Phil again. When asked him if it was OK for me to stay with Bella for the next couple of days, he gladly accepted my offer.

Because Bella has been hauled up in her room all this time, Charlie hasn't seen her much. He was either at work, or he was trying to give Bella some space, so she could deal with things in her own way.

It's good to hear that they are talking again, because that means that things are slowly but steadily going back to being 'normal', whatever that means. All I care about is that Bella is slowly moving on with her life again.

I tune in to listen to their conversation.

'… mind if I go fishing with Billy Black? I'll only be gone for two days and you have Alice to keep you company.' Billy Black? I know that name from somewhere.

'Sure dad, you should go. I know how you always enjoy fishing with Billy, so I don't want you to stay here because of me.'

'Are you sure?'

'Yeah, you should definitely go. I haven't been great company these last few days, so I think you should go and have some fun. And like you said, I can hang out with Alice here.'

Just then a car drives up the street. It stops in the driveway and I hear two doors slam. Charlie walks into the hallway to open the front door. I hear him greeting some people and as soon as they enter, a foul stench permeates my nose.

There are mutts in the house.

* * *

BPOV:

I hobble out of the kitchen as fast as I can to say hi to the Blacks. Billy never comes alone, he always has Jake with him and I haven't seen him in a while. I step into the living room and I see that Billy and dad are discussing something, but I don't see Jake. I hear the front door close and I walk to the window to peer outside. What I see kind off surprises me. Alice is standing in the front yard with Jake, and it looks like they are having an argument or something. I quickly decide that I want to know what this is about, so I hobble to the front door and open it a bit, trying not to disturb them.

But as soon as I do, both their heads whip around to look at me, and I'm pretty sure I look like a deer caught in the headlights. I have two options now, either I turn around and pretend I wasn't eavesdropping, or at least trying to, or I can join them on the lawn. I opt for the latter.

As soon as I try to descend the few steps in front of my house, Alice is by my side, snaking one arm around my waist to steady me. Which is weird, because she knows I can do this on my own, despite my injury. I'll ask her about that later.

When we reach Jake, the dark look he had on his face when he was talking to Alice quickly changes into a smile. I start taking his appearance in. Unlike the last time I saw him, he now has short hair, which suits him. He also seems a lot more muscular and he looks more 'mature'. My only reaction is:

'Jake… Wow.'

He grins at me. 'Thanks Bella. You can close your mouth now, don't want you to catch any flies.'

Shit! I didn't realise that I was gaping at him. I quickly snap my mouth shut and scowl at him. Which only makes his grin even wider.

'How have you been Jake? Been keeping busy I see.'

'Oh, you know, going to school on the res, helping dad around the house and me, Quil and Embry have been hanging out with Sam and his friends. They train a lot and stuff.'

They must train a lot then! Just four weeks ago he had an average build, now all of a sudden he's Mr. muscle.

'Cool.'

'You have been keeping busy too I see. I heard about your accident.'

Oh right, my accident. 'Uhm yeah, I took a really bad fall down some stairs and ended up crashing through a window. You know me, clumsy Bella.' I hate lying to him, but what am I supposed to tell him? That I was nearly killed by a blood thirsty vampire? Yeah right.

'Yeah, that sounds like you alright. Listen, seeing as both of our dads are going fishing this weekend, I was wondering if you would like to hang out?'

He looks at me hopeful, too bad I have to shatter his hope. 'Uhm, I would like to hang out, but I can't. I kind of already made plans with Alice.' As soon as I say her name, the look on his face darkens again and I see him glare in her direction. I steal a quick at Alice, who has been standing a bit on the side this whole time, only to see a similar expression on her face directed at Jake. What is it with these two?

'Uh guys, do you know each other from somewhere or something?'

Alice turns to me and simply says 'We have a history of some kind.'

Vague much? 'Would you care to elaborate on that? Because you two are really acting weird.'

'That's a story for another time I think.' Jake chimes in. 'Anyway, I have to get going. It was great seeing you again Bella. Can I give you a call next week? So we can make some plans to catch up?'

'Uhm sure. Sounds great.'

'OK then, take care and say bye to your dad for me.' He shoots another glare at Alice and then proceeds to his truck and drives off. When he's out of sight I turn to Alice.

'Care to explain what the hell that was all about?'


	4. Distractions

**Chapter 4: Distractions**

APOV:

'What the hell was that all about?'

'What was what all about?' Maybe if I'll play dumb she'll let it slide.

'Don't play dumb with me Alice!' Too bad. 'You and Jake were shooting death glares at each other, and I want to know why.'

She is not going to let this go until I give her some kind of explanation, I can see that. But the problem is, I can't really give her one, since I'm not allowed to. Which means I will have to lie if she keeps persisting. Damn it! That stupid mutt. Those dogs always ruin everything. And the arrogance they display! He shows up at Bella's home, where I am staying as a guest, and demands from me to come outside and explain what _the leeches _are still doing with Bella now that she and Edward have broken up. Apparently we hadn't caused her enough pain yet.

I was getting ready to tackle him after he had the audacity to say those things, but lucky for him, Bella decided to show up at that moment.

I helped her down the steps in front of her house to show the mutt that we were taking perfect care of Bella and that she would be safe with us, with me. And then the glaring contest began, which of course didn't go unnoticed by Bella.

So now I'm standing here thinking about how I'm going to get Bella to let this drop, without lying to her.

'Look, Bella, like I said before, he and I have a history of some sort, but I can't tell you anything else about it. It's not my place to do so, it's his.' She looks at me for a moment and lets out an exasperated sigh.

'Fine. I'll ask Jake about it sometime then.'

We stand on the lawn in silence for a minute or so, when suddenly I remember something she said. 'Apparently we have plans for this weekend.'

She looks at me kinda confused. 'Huh?'

'Don't you remember silly, you told Jake you couldn't hang out with him because we had plans. Care to enlighten me?' I say in a sweet voice.

'Oh, right. Well, I actually just said that to blow him off. I just don't feel like spending time with him yet after… you know.' She trails of at the end of her sentence and I can see the pain in her eyes.

'That's all the more reason for us to do something together, it will help take your mind off of things.' And it will help me to keep my mind off a certain something too.

'I don't know if I'm up to it Alice. And besides, I've been hogging you for the past week. Don't you want to go home for a bit and spend some time with Jasper.' As soon as his name leaves her lips I can feel my mood change and my face fall. I guess she noticed it too, because her next question is:

'Alice? Did I say something wrong?'

* * *

BPOV:

Alice looks like I just killed her puppy or something. I have never seen her looking so sad. I start to open my mouth to inquire if she's alright, but she beats me to it.

'Let's get inside first, shall we?' I follow her up the steps and into the house and we return to my room. She sits down on the bed and pats the spot next to her, silently asking me to come and sit next her. I oblige and turn to her, waiting to see if she'll start talking. After a minute or so she does.

'Jasper isn't at home. He.. he left together with Edward.' She says in a fragile voice.

OK. I sure wasn't expecting this. Did they break up too? And why didn't she tell me sooner? This happened like a week ago and she has been hurting all this time. I need some answers.

'Why didn't you tell me before? And why did he leave? Did you guys break up or something?' Alice turns her head towards me and looks me in the eyes before she continues.

'I.. I didn't want to burden you with it after what happened with Edward. You are having a hard time as it is already and I didn't want to make it any harder. And we didn't break up, he just had to take care of some things on his own.' She looks away from my eyes again. I don't know why, but I get the feeling she isn't telling me something.

'Thank you for trying to protect me, but this is something you should have told me immediately. I want to know what's going on in your life, you're my friend Alice.' I take her hands in mine. 'You must miss him terribly.'

'Yes I do.' I squeeze her hand in comfort. 'We haven't been apart for a long time, so this will be hard on both of us. At least we both have someone to keep us company.' She smiles a little smile at me.

'Whatever he has to take care of must me pretty important then.' I pause for a second, but then decide to go ahead and ask what I want to know. 'What exactly is it that he has to take care of?' Her smile disappears again and she tenses up. I can see she doesn't want to tell me. So I give her an out.

'You know what, never mind, it's not necessary for me to know anyway.' This makes her relax a bit again, but I can still see that something is bothering her. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to go out this weekend after all, it will give us both some needed distraction.

'You know what? Why don't we go do something this weekend after all?' She perks up at hearing this.

'Really? What did you have in mind?' Well, I didn't exactly think that far ahead. I'll let her pick something.

'Uhm, I don't know. Why don't you pick something?' I can see her think for a minute and suddenly this huge devilish grin starts to form on her face. In an instant she stands up, letting go of my hands in the process, and she lets out a squeak while she claps her hands. I don't think I'm going to like this.

'We'll go shopping!' She says in an excited tone, while she's practically jumping up and down with joy.

Damn! I knew I wasn't going to like this. I let myself fall back onto the bed and heave a huge sigh, while Alice rambles on about everything she wants to do on our shopping trip.


	5. Hell

**Chapter 5: Hell**

BPOV:

Saturday has rolled around far too quickly for me. After I told Alice we would go shopping last Thursday, she hasn't shut up about it. How she can be so excited about a simple shopping trip is a mystery to me. Personally, I absolutely hate shopping. But it's my own fault we are going shopping, after all, I told her she could pick the activity. Stupid me.

As if going shopping in itself isn't bad enough, Alice practically dragged me out of bed at 07:00 this morning! It's a freaking Saturday and the mall only opens at 09:00AM, so why the hell did I have to get up that early?! I mean, come on!

After she dragged me from my bed, she just about pushed me into the bathroom and ordered me to hurry up with my grooming. I mumbled some curses to her under my breath, thinking she wouldn't hear me, but I forgot about her stupid vampire hearing for a minute. Fortunately she wasn't upset with me or anything, in fact, she just laughed at my antics.

When I got out of the bathroom she was sitting on my bed waiting for me. Next to her were lying three different outfits. As soon as I reached the bed, she started holding them up in front of me one by one and I swear I could hear her mumble something along the lines of '… has no fashionable clothes at all… have to do some serious shopping…'. She finally settled on the second outfit she had laid out for me and she went downstairs to give me some privacy.

When I had finished changing into my outfit, I walked downstairs, I walked into the kitchen to find her slaving at the stove. She ordered me to sit down at the table without turning around, and a glass of orange juice was already waiting for me. I sat quietly and waited for her to finish whatever it was that she was making me.

When she finally turned around to face me, my eyes nearly fell out of my head. She was holding three plates in her hands. One with bacon and scrambled eggs, one with French toast and one with pancakes. She saw me looking at the food with wide eyes.

'Relax, I don't expect you to eat all of it. I just didn't know what you would like best, so I made all so you can choose. Now dig in, you need your energy for today.' She said while smirking at me.

I chose to sample all three dishes and I have to say, for a vampire that doesn't eat any food, she can sure cook! All the while I was eating she sat opposite me, observing me. When she had done it the first time about a week ago, it had disturbed me. But I have grown used to her doing it by now. I still hadn't asked her why she does it though, but I decided to leave that question for a later time.

When I had finished eating she washed the dishes at vampire speed and when she was done she practically bounced towards the front door, dragging me with her again. When she opened the door my mouth fell open in shock. In my driveway was standing a car that could only be described as 'sex on wheels'. She saw me staring at it open mouthed and threw one of her smirks at me again.

'You like?'

'Alice?! This is YOUR car? You have got to be kidding me.' Now, I had never been into cars much, but that thing just looked awesome.

She smiled proudly at me before walking over to the canary yellow Porsche and placing her hand on it's hood. 'Bella, I want to introduce you to my baby. I just got her last week. Emmett dropped her off for me here last night.'

I practically stumbled over to her, I was totally in awe by the car. 'Alice, it looks amazing! I didn't know you were into cars like this.'

'Well, a girl has to have some vices. And cars are a secret one of mine.' She said while she walked over to the passengers side and opened the door for me. 'After you.'

I complied instantly and sat down on the most comfortable leather I had ever felt. Not only did this car look great, but it was comfortable as well. This car suited Alice. It's colour matched Alice's normally exuberant behaviour. It's curves were shaped like her body, in other words, perfect. The comfortable leather seats reminded me about how comfortable I always felt in her arms. I was wondering about how it would handle itself on the road however. Would it glide over the road with the same gracefulness as Alice portrayed in her walk?

'Now, let me show you what this baby can do. Buckle up Bella.' As soon as I had, she put the car in reverse and sped out of my driveway, heading for the highway to Seattle. As soon as we had left Forks city limits, she floored it. To say that the ride to the mall was exhilarating would be an understatement. I had thoroughly enjoyed it. It had even taken my mind of the dreadful day to come. Unfortunately, that didn't last for long.

And now, after three hours of shopping, I'm sitting at the food court completely exhausted, while Alice is dumping her first six bags of clothes in her car.

* * *

APOV:

I drop the bags in the car and rush back towards the mall. Bella and I had just spend three hours in two stores and bought bags full off clothes. Well, I bought bags full of clothes. In the first store, Bella had just barely browsed through some racks before sitting down beside the changing rooms with a bored expression on her face. That girl really isn't into shopping, which just baffles me. What normal teenage girl isn't into shopping? Even me, the 107 year old vampire is still into shopping after all these years. Ah well, I guess to everyone his own.

I tried on different outfits for nearly an hour and made Bella judge all of them. Every time I had donned a new outfit and stepped out to show it to her, she just said 'It looks great Alice' or 'That looks nice'. She really wasn't a big help. In the end I just picked the clothes I liked best and discarded the rest. When we exited the first store I was already carrying four bags in my arms.

When I dragged Bella into the second store, she was about to repeat her routine from the first store, but this time I didn't let her.

'Oh no you don't! When I said we were going shopping, I didn't mean that I would do all the work and you could just sit around. Now, go look for some things to try on and don't you dare to come back empty handed.' I scolded her while she sulked and began browsing through some racks.

After about twenty minutes of browsing, she had a few items in her arms that she wanted to try on. I of course, had my whole arms full again. Together we headed towards the changing room. She put her clothes into one of the stalls, before looking at me questioningly.

'Aren't you going to try on the clothes you picked out?' She said while raising one eyebrow.

I smirked at her. 'These are not for me Bella. I had my turn in the first shop, now it's your turn.'

Her eyes widened when she looked over to the pile of clothes that was lying next to me. She heaved a sigh before turning around and closing the door of her stall. After a few minutes she opened the door and stepped out in one of her typical outfits. Dark blue jeans, with a converse shirt and a hoodie. Now it was my turn to sigh.

'No.' That was all I said.

She looked at me confused. 'What's wrong with these clothes? I always dress like this.'

'There is nothing wrong with the clothes, but it's like you just said yourself, you ALWAYS dress like that. Don't you want to try something different every now and again?' Before she could answer I walked past her into her stall where I proceeded to gather the clothes she picked out and threw them onto the chair I was just sitting in. Next, I started going through the pile of clothes I picked out. I handed her an outfit and pushed her back into the stall.

'Try those on.' Before she could protest I closed the stall door. I could hear her mutter something under her breath and then I heard the ruffling of clothes. Well, at least she was trying them on. After a minute or two she stepped out of the stall again. She had on a tight fitting long sleeved blue top, with a v-neck cut that showed off a bit of her cleavage. And she was wearing a pair of black jeans. The outfit looked amazing on her, but when I looked her in the eye I could see she didn't like it.

'Bella, you look great!' At this she huffed. 'I mean it, you do. Why don't you like it?'

'It just makes me feel so… so naked.' She looked down at her own chest and when she saw how the top was showing off her cleavage, she quickly crossed her arms over her chest.

I took her hands in mine and made her uncross her arms. 'Bella, you don't have to be ashamed of showing off your body a bit every now and again. I mean, you can surely pull it off.' I smiled at her while I looked her up and down. She blushed at this.

'I just don't feel… comfortable in these clothes.' I could see that indeed she didn't.

'Well, I'm not going to force you to buy anything you don't want to buy.' I could see her visibly relax at this. 'However, I do want you to try on some more.' She started to protest but I cut her off and I used my secret weapon to get my way.

'Alice, no! Not the puppy dog pout! Put it away!' She turned form me then, trying to look away from me. I keep up my pout and when she dares to look at me again I can see her resolve crumbling before my eyes. 'Alice, you're not fighting fair. You know that no one can resist that pout! Ugh, fine. I'll try on some more clothes.' Aha, Victory!

I let out a happy squeal and hand Bella her next outfit. We kept this up for about forty minutes, until it came down to the last item of clothing I had picked out for her. Now, I knew up front that she would flat out refuse to try it on, but I was going to get her to try it on. One way or another.

I handed it to her and she stepped into the stall again. It took her only a few seconds to come out of it.

'No way! I am not wearing this, you can't be serious!'

She was holding the black dress in her hand that I had picked out for her while she wasn't paying attention. So far I had gotten her to try on everything in the pile, and the dress wasn't going to be an exception. I put my hands on my hips and tried to look menacing.

'Now, Bella. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. But either way, you're going to try that dress on.'

She crossed her arms in front of her chest, glaring at me and not budging. 'Fine, it's going to be the hard way then.'

Before she could even react, I had moved towards her in vampire speed, forcing her back into the stall and closing the door behind me. Next I quickly pulled of her shirt and while she was still in shock, I unbuttoned her pants and carefully pulled them of her too, minding her injured leg. When she was standing in just her underwear, which I have to say lacked some class, her eyes widened and she seemed to snap out of her shock-like-state. She looked down at herself, before looking back up at me.

'Alice! What the hell?!'

I smirked at her disgruntled expression. 'I gave you an option, you opted for the hard way. And seeing as you're already undressed now, it'll be easy to slip the dress on.' With that being said, I held it out to her.

'Ugh! I don't believe you! Fine! I'll put on the damn dress.' She took the dress from me and carefully stepped into it. When she had it on she turned her back towards me, which was my cue to zip her up. When I had done so, she let her hair fall back down again and looked in the mirror in front of her.

When she saw her own reflection, she looked kinda surprised. The dress fit snugly to her curves, and it fell to just above her knees. It had only one strap, over her right shoulder, so the left one was left bare. There was only one way to describe Bella at that moment.

'Wow Bella, you look hot!' She blushed upon hearing my comment and she looked herself over again.

'Uhm… thanks. But can I get out of it now? I would just really like to put on my own clothes again.'

'Sure Bella.' I unzipped the dress for her and watched her sliding it off. Now that she was standing in her underwear again, I remembered my thought from just now.

'Bella, we have to do something about your underwear.' I looked at her with a serious expression. While locking my eyes on hers in the mirror.

'Why? What's wrong with my underwear?' She asked clearly confused.

Omg! Is she serious? 'Well for one, the bra that you're wearing really does nothing to support you and these are sure worth to be supported.' While saying this I had cupped the sides of her breasts lightly, and pushed them together a bit to create some more cleavage. She was blushing furiously at this point and I could feel her body tense, so I took my hands off her breasts again.

'Second, those panties, a definite no go.' While gesturing to them and shaking my head.

'I quite happen to like my underwear. It's comfortable.'

'Yes well, you can have comfort and style combined you know, you just have to know where to look.'

'And let me guess, you know just where to look?'

And of course I do know just the place where we can buy Bella some new stylish lingerie. I practically skip towards the table that she is sitting at in the food court. I plop down in the seat across from hers and watch her eat the last bit of her hot dog. She wipes her mouth and then smiles at me.

'So, are you ready to hit the next shop? Or do you need some more food?'

'As much as I would want to prolong sitting here instead of continuing our shopping trip, I have to say I'm full. So I guess that means the torture will commence again.'

Again, I don't understand how a girl can be so dramatic about shopping. 'Oh stop being such a baby.'

I stand up and take her hands in mine, practically dragging her out of her seat and towards the next store. When we have reached our destination she looks at the shop and then back at me with pleading eyes.

'Please Alice! Not this store. I'll do anything you want for the rest of the day, but don't make me go into this store.'

I just flash Bella one of my big grins, before I start pulling her into Victoria's Secret.


	6. Reflections

**A/N: I'm sorry to have kept you waiting longer then usual, but my grandmother is in the hospital so I didn't feel like writing. I hope you can forgive me. **

**Please read and review!**

**Chapter 6: Reflections**

BPOV:

Yesterday was a righteous nightmare! I am never going shopping with Alice again. We spend over six hours in that freakin' mall, of which Alice spend four hours torturing me. I mean, the things she had me try on? OK, I have to admit, some of the things she had me try on weren't that bad and I even kinda liked a few, but the dress. I couldn't believe she actually expected me to even try it and so I flat out refused to. BIG mistake. Before I knew what was going on, she had me pushed back into the changing stall and she had me standing there in my underwear in no time. Once I had come out of the shock-like-state I was in, I realized two things.

One: I was standing in front of Alice in nothing else but my underwear. The only person who had seen me in nothing but my underwear before was my mom, and the last time that had happened was like three years ago or something.

Two: I wasn't really bothered by the fact that I was standing in front of Alice in nothing else but my underwear. Which struck me as odd, because normally I'm not one for showing off any bit of skin, so standing in front of Alice in only my underwear, should have freaked me out. But it didn't in the slightest.

I put on the dress just to get Alice of my back and when I had, she helped me close the zipper on the back. While she carefully pulled the zipper up, her knuckles grazed my spine and I could barely control a shiver. Again, this struck me as odd. I chose to ignore the feeling and instead looked in the mirror at my own reflection. I actually didn't look that bad and when I saw Alice's reflection in the mirror I could see that she agreed with me. I can only describe the look on her face as adoration, and when she said that I looked hot, I felt a blush creeping up.

Eventhough the dress didn't look that bad on me, I wanted to get back into my own clothes. So I had Alice help me out of the dress and again I could barely control the shiver when she grazed my spine to pull the zipper down. And this time I had no time to dwell on the feeling, because the next I know, Alice is talking about my underwear and cupping my breasts! And I am turning scarlet for a whole different bunch of reasons.

The main one being that I liked the feel of her hands on my breasts. No one, and I mean NO ONE had ever touched my breasts like that (well, except for me of course, I'm not a total prude) and I was revelling in the feeling of it. The coldness of Alice's hands only added to the sensation.

The coldness of her hands, just like his hands, and at the reminder of him I visibly tensed. I think Alice noticed that too and she quickly took her hands off of my body and she talked on about my underwear while I got dressed in my own clothes again. But I didn't really hear what she was talking about. I was too preoccupied with my thoughts about him.

For the past week he had been the main thing that my thoughts had been centred on. At first I couldn't do anything but cry and feel absolutely miserable. I missed him so much and it had hurt terribly to be away from him. All I had wanted to do for those first few days was scream, the pain of him leaving me was so bad that I could barely control myself. But luckily Alice was there, and it was because of her that I was strong enough. I could cling to her when I felt like I was about to lose control, and she would hold me and try to comfort me the best she could.

I cried those first days until I simply couldn't cry anymore. But I didn't get much better. I was emotionally and physically drained, and I wasn't up to anything but lying in my bed and trying to get my thoughts organized. Alice continued to stay with me and she helped me if I needed anything. I solely relied on her.

On the sixth morning I woke up and I just realized that I couldn't go on like this. I couldn't get stuck in this depression, because I knew that if I did, I wouldn't be able to get out of it anymore. So I got up and tried to be strong, not only for myself, but also for the people around me. And that actually worked out well, for a while. I managed not to think of him for a whole day, until the feel of Alice's hands had reminded me of him.

In that instant a myriad of emotions had swirled through me. I felt sad because I missed him. I felt angry with him because he had just left me. I felt guilty for trying to move on without him.

I needed a moment to get my emotions under control again, so Alice sat me down in the food court while she dropped the bags in her car. I used that time to focus my thoughts on something else than him. I thought of the time before I had met him and I told myself that I had been happy then too. I had had Renee, Phil and my friends back then. And now I had Charlie and my new friends, and most importantly I had Alice. I wasn't alone, and they were all I needed, I did not need him to be happy.

So with my new resolve I continued my day of shopping with Alice. After I had finished my food she dragged me into the one store I hate the most. Vitoria's Secret. Instead of dragging me with her the whole time like I expected her to do, we immediately went in the direction of the changing stalls. She pushed me inside one and all she said was:

'Stay and strip.'

I stood there dumbfounded for a few moments, but when I came back to myself I decided it was best to just do what she said. Otherwise she would undress me again, not that I was opposed to that. Again, that was a weird thought to have.

So I stripped down to my underwear and I just stood in the changing stall, waiting for Alice to come back. After a few minutes she did come back, with her arms full of every underwear article you can imagine! My eyes went wide when I saw the amount she was carrying with her and they went even wider when she stepped into my changing stall and handed me the first bra.

'Uhm, Alice? Are.. aren't you going to wait outside while I change into this?'

'Why? We're both girls so I'm not going to see anything I haven't seen before.' She smiled sweetly at me.

'Well, that may be true, but I'm kind of uncomfortable with changing in front of you.' She looked hurt when I said that. 'I mean, I'm not just uncomfortable changing in front of YOU, I'm uncomfortable changing in front of anyone.'

'OK, then I'll just wait outside. Just call me when your ready.' Having said that, she dumped all the underwear she was still holding on the chair in the corner of the stall, and she went outside, closing the curtain behind her.

I heaved a deep sigh and looked at all the stuff she had just dumped on the chair. There were all kinds of bra's, panties, sleepwear and even garters(!). I groaned when I saw the garters.

'Bella, are you alright in there?' Alice must have heard me groan, stupid vampire hearing.

'Yeah, uhm, I'm alright. Just uh, hold on a minute and then you can come inside.'

I decided to first try on the bra she had handed me. It was a black lacy one and it actually looked nice. I put it on and called for Alice. She stepped into the stall with me and made me turn towards the mirror. She looked me over a few times.

'Very nice, but, those panties you have on don't match with the bra at all.' She turned around and rummaged through the pile on the chair for a bit. She pulled out a thong from it.

'Alice I refuse to wear that thing! Those things are not made for the comfort of women!' I looked at her and saw her smiling, then she began to laugh.

'Take it easy Bella, I know you hate thongs, I'm just messing with you. You should have seen your face when you saw it, pure horror.' Very funny. Her laughter turned into giggling when she rummaged through the pile again. She pulled a pair of hip huggers from it now. Much better.

'Here, I think you'll like these better. I'll be waiting outside again.' I quickly put the panties on and called for Alice again.

'Bella! You look absolutely gorgeous!' I blushed a scarlet pink at her comment and cast my gaze towards the floor. She looked me over a few more times before she turned away and pulled out the next item from the pile.

We went on like this for the next hour or so. She had me put something on, she would comment on how I looked and I would blush, and then she had me try on something else. At the end there was only three items left. A push-up bra, hip huggers and the garters, all in the same deep blue colour. I put them all on and looked myself over in the mirror. I looked sexy, dare I say it.

Alice came in and looked at my reflection in the mirror. Her mouth dropped open a bit and she just stared at me for a few moments.

'Bella, you look totally HOT!' Her comment not only made blush this time, but it made my stomach feel all tingly. What the hell is going on with me? I didn't have time to dwell on it for long, because when I caught Alice's reflection in the mirror, I saw that her eyes had darkened quit a bit form their usual golden colour. They were almost completely black, with just a few specks of gold in them.

'Alice, are you alright?' She looked at me confused.

'Of course Bella, why do you ask?'

'Your eyes, they have turned darker. Are you hungry, do you need to feed? When was the last time you have hunted?' She closed her eyes for a minute and she looked like she was in deep concentration. When she opened her eyes again and looked at me, they had reversed to their usual golden colour.

'No need to hunt, I'm fine, you see?' She smiled a reassuring smile at me, but I saw something else in her eyes. If she wasn't hungry, then why would her eyes turn black? What wasn't she telling me? But I didn't have the chance to ask her about it, because she told me to put on my own clothes again, while she went to pay for the underwear.

During the car ride home, she rambled on about all kinds of stuff, but I didn't hear most of it. I was too immersed in my own thoughts. And I have been ever since then.

There are two things that have been occupying my mind. Why do I suddenly feel different around Alice? How come her comments make me blush and her touch makes me shiver? And why did Alice's eyes turn black when she wasn't hungry?

The answer to the first is something I'll have to work out myself. The answer to the second is more easy to find. I think it's time for a visit to the Cullens.


	7. Goodbye

**Chapter 7: Goodbye**

**Bella POV:**

'Bella?'

'Hmm?' I lift my head from my pillow and lean on my good arm to get a better look at Alice, who's sitting at the edge of my bed.

'Esme wanted me to ask you if you want to come over tonight?' Perfect! Then I can ask Carlisle why Alice's eyes turned black. 'She says she misses you and she is dying to use the kitchen again.'

'I guess that's OK. I kinda missed her too, and of course Carlisle and Emmett. I'm not so sure if I missed Rosalie though.' I say with a smirk.

Alice laughs at that, which causes a funny feeling in my stomach. 'I know Rosalie comes across as a bitch, but she isn't that bad. You get used to her, after a while.'

'What do you vampires call a while?' I ask her amused.

'Oh, about twenty years.'

Now it's my turn to laugh. Just as I am about to respond, my phone starts ringing. Alice gets up from the bed to get my phone, while I sit upright against the headboard. She looks at the little display on my phone and the look on her face hardens a bit. She hands it to me and when I look at the caller-ID I see it's Jake. Seriously, what's Alice's problem with Jake? Instead of pondering about it, I decide to answer my phone before Jake hangs up.

'Hi Jake.'

'Hey Bella. How are you doing?'

'I'm doing alright.'

'Glad to hear that. Say uhm, do you have anything planned for this afternoon? I know you said that you had plans for the weekend with Alice, but uhm, I just wanted to try again I guess.' He's sounding hopeful, and he's in luck.

'Actually, I haven't got any plans yet for this afternoon. I'm going around to the Cullens this evening but I'm free this afternoon.' I swear I just heard Jake growl in the background. 'Jake? Did you just growl?'

He clears his throat before he answers. 'No, I uh, coughed. I have this cold.'

'OK. So, I'll just ask Alice to drop me off at your place in about two hours, seeing as I can't drive right now.'

'NO!' He replies fiercely. God, what is it with those two? 'I mean uhm, I'll come pick you up, so Alice doesn't have to drive all the way out here.'

'Alright, that works for me. See you later then.'

'Yeah, see you. Bye.'

'Bye.'

I close my phone and toss it on the bed. When I look up I see Alice looking at me, with a slightly annoyed expression on her face.

'What's up with you?' I ask her. 'And what do you have against Jake?'

She sighs. 'Bella, I told you I can't answer that question. You'll have to ask Jake about it. And seeing as you are going over to him this afternoon, you can ask him them.' She finishes in an annoyed voice.

'Why do I get the impression that you don't want me to go over to his place?'

'Because I don't want you to, for a bunch of different reasons. And most of those I can't share with you.'

Hey, wait a minute, she said most. She can't share most of them with me, which means that she can share some.

'You said most.'

'Huh?' She looks at me confused.

'You said you can't share most of the reasons. So there are some you can share. Spill.'

She looks slightly panicked for a second, but she quickly composes herself. 'Fine. If you must know, I don't want you to hang out with him because he likes you Bella.'

Well duh, he's my friend. 'I know that he likes me Alice. He's one of my best friends, I like him too.'

She rolls her eyes. 'I don't mean that he likes you just as a friend, or best friends even. He likes you as something more.' Now it's my turn to look confused. 'Oh for God's sake! The boy loves you Bella. He's in love with you.'

I can't help but to start laughing out loud at that. There is no way in hell that Jake is in love with me. Alice must be wrong about this.

'Come on Alice. This is Jake we're talking about. He is not 'in love' with me. That's just crazy!' I snicker.

'Crazy is it? Then why was he always so jealous when he saw you with him, or when you mentioned his name? Why is he always trying to protect you? Why does he always touch you every chance he gets?' She says in a slightly angry voice.

Damn, when she lays out the facts like this, it does sound like Jake is in love with me. Ugh, I so do not want to deal with this right now. I mean, he's Jake, he's my friend, that's the only way I like him. As my friend.

'OK, so maybe he does like me like that.' Hold on! She said that she doesn't like me hanging out with him because he likes me? Is she afraid that he'll try something with me? Or does she think that I like him too? But then again, why would that bother her?

'Alice, how come it bothers you so much that he possibly likes me like that?' And there is that slightly panicked look again. What isn't she telling me?

She looks away for a few moments, before she walks over to me and sits down beside me on the bed. Then she faces me and takes my hands in hers.

'I just don't want to see you get hurt, OK?' I can see she sincerely means it, but I get a bit angry at her words.

'You mean that you don't want him to hurt me like he did.' Damn, I just had to bring that up again.

'Yes Bella, that's exactly what I mean. I don't want you to get hurt after what happened with my brother, with Edward. I can see in your eyes that it still hurts you very much, what he did to you. And I care too much for you to let that happen ever again.' I have tears in my eyes by then, because of the reminder about Edward and because of the sincerity and passion of Alice's words. I let the tears fall and Alice immediately throws her arms around me, hugging me as tightly to her body as she can without hurting me.

And in this instant all I had been telling myself yesterday, about not needing Edward to be happy, feels like the truth. I mean here I am, in the arms of some one who loves me, albeit as a friend, but nonetheless loves me and cares for me and looks out for me. And I have enough other people who do that for me too. I don't need Edward to do that for me, I don't need him to feel safe, I don't need him to feel loved and I certainly do not need him in my life to be happy. I do not need him.

I actually smile at this realization and I feel lighter in a way. I think I may be ready to move on with my life now, there is just one more thing I need to do, to make it final. In a whisper I say 'Goodbye, Edward.' And again I smile.


	8. The wolf is out of the bag

**Chapter 8: The wolf is out of the bag**

**Alice POV:**

'Alice! Would you please stop that? You're going to make a trench in the floor if you keep at it like that.'

I stop my pacing and look up to find Esme glaring at me. As soon as she sees the helpless expression on my face, her glare quickly changes into a look of compassion and understanding.

'I'm sorry Esme, but I just feel so frustrated right now. Bella has been with that mutt for three hours now and I can't see how she's doing. That damn dog is blocking my visions!'

'I know that you don't like it that Bella is with this Jacob right now, for obvious reasons. But honey, he's her friend. And him being a werewolf doesn't mean that he would do anything to hurt Bella. As you told me yourself, the boy loves her, so he won't let anything happen to her.' That's Esme for you, always seeing the good in everyone, even in those mutts.

'Now, why don't you go hunt for a bit. Maybe that will take your mind off things.'

'I already did that this morning.' I sigh. Right after the dog had come to pick up Bella, I had gone out to hunt. After that I came home and took a much needed shower and changed into a new outfit. Then I had begun pacing the living room, glancing at the clock every five minutes or so, hoping that Bella would be here soon, but not able to see if she would be. Stupid mutts! Ugh, I hate feeling this useless!

With a heavy sigh I plop down on the couch and pick up one of my fashion magazines, but even fashion can't take my mind off Bella right now. Since Jasper left a week ago we haven't really spend any time apart. I think Bella feels that she is the one who has been leaning on me since Edward left, but I needed her just as much this past week. And it's because of her that I'm not constantly thinking about Jasper. He hasn't been on the forefront of my mind for a few days now. Especially not when Bella and I went shopping yesterday.

I still don't really understand what happened in Victoria's Secret. Bella had been trying on the underwear I picked out for her for about an hour, and every time she had donned a new set I would go in and see if it worked for her. Whenever I stepped into the changing stall with her, I got this weird feeling in my stomach, but I dismissed it and instead focussed on the task at hand. When I saw her in the last set however, I couldn't dismiss that feeling anymore, it became overpowering. I looked her over and I had the strong urge to pin her against the wall and to ravish her. And I don't mean that I wanted to drink from her, eventhough her blood is way more alluring now that I have been in such close contact with it and seems to sings to me now, drawing me in. No, I realized with a start that I had wanted to kiss her in that instant.

The shock of this and Bella's concerned inquiry about my wellbeing, quickly pulled me out of my haze however. Then she mentioned my eyes, and when I looked at my own reflection in the mirror, I saw that they had almost turned completely black… from arousal.

I took a much needed moment then to calm my raging hormones and when I opened my eyes again, they had returned to their normal topaz colour. Bella asked me if needed to feed, but I told her I was fine. Luckily she didn't inquire further, because I have no idea how I would have explained to her that my eyes had turned black from arousal. And I can't explain that to myself either. The only time I get that way is when I'm with Jasper. Of course I sometimes feel attracted to other people as well, I mean, I'm not dead or anything. Everyone has urges.

I'll just chalk it up to the fact that I haven't had sex in a week and a half now that Jasper is gone. Yes, that must be it. I'm just not handling this abstinence thing well. But if it was just about sex, what was that underlying feeling I felt with Bella. Damn this is confusing!

'Alice honey, I hear a car coming up the road. It's not Carlisle and your siblings, they're only returning this evening.' Esme called to me from the kitchen.

If it isn't my family, then it must be Bella. No one else ever comes up here. My inner discussion is quickly forgotten and I run towards our driveway in vampire speed. I see a truck driving up the road that I recognize as Jake's, because of the foul smell surrounding it. As he pulls up in our driveway I resist the urge to run over to Bella immediately.

Instead I remain standing a few feet away from it and I can see Bella hugging Jake through the windshield. A pang of jealousy courses through me. As Bella breaks up the hug, Jake catches my eye and to my surprise, his former glare is gone. I keep my expression neutral and focus my attention on Bella as she steps out of the truck. She waves to Jake as he drives off and then proceeds to run towards me. When she reaches me, she develops me into a, would I have been human, bone crushing hug which I happily return.

I sniff her neck, expecting her sweet scent to wash over me, but instead I smell wet dog. And it nearly makes me gag. I think Bella notices my discomfort because she quickly retracts her arms from around me.

'Are you alright?' She asks concerned.

'Yeah I'm fine, it's just that you smell different. And kind of bad actually, just like those…' Shit, I nearly broke the treaty there. Smooth, Alice.

'Wolfs?' To my surprise Bella finishes my sentence for me. 'I know his secret Alice, he told me.' Huh, to my knowledge they aren't allowed to share that information with anyone.

'I thought they aren't supposed to…' Before I can finish my sentence, a gust of wind swipes under Bella's hair, and another whiff of that disgusting dog smell fills my nostrils. Again I have to resist the urge to gag.

'Bella, would you mind taking a shower and putting on different clothes. I really can't stand the way you smell.' I say with a mildly disgusted look on my face, and hoping that Bella doesn't feel insulted. By the way she chuckles I can tell that she isn't.

'Silly vampire.' That said, she starts walking up the stairs, still chuckling.

**BPOV:**

'Bella, are you almost finished in there?' Alice calls from the other side of the bathroom door in a whiny voice. 'Come on, you need to tell me everything that happened this afternoon! I already saw that you're going to in my vision. I just can't see what, because I can't see past the dog.' She whined again and I'm pretty sure I just heard her stomp her foot for emphasis.

I can't help the huge smile that forms on my lips. For a 107 year old vampire, Alice can really behave like a child sometimes. It's kinda cute when she does actually. I open the bathroom door and Alice immediately grabs my hand and drags me into her room. She plops down on the bed and pats the empty space next to her, giving me a silent invitation to join her.

As soon as I sit down, she hugs me tightly and… sniffs me. When I break away from her I see that she has her eyes closed and a huge smile is plastered onto her face.

'I'm guessing that I don't stink anymore, judging by the look on your face.' I ask amused. She just nods at me, inhaling deeply once more.

'Mhm, you definitely smell like Bella again.' She opens her eyes then and I can see an expecting look in them. 'So?'

An idea strikes me then, I open my mouth to speak, but then Alice's eyes turn black and she zones out. I know that look, she's having a vision. As soon as she snaps out of it, she glares at me. 'Oh no you don't! You're not going to stall, you're going to tell me now.'

Damn, she just ruined my fun. I was going to mess with Alice for a bit, not telling her what had happened with Jake today. I pout at her, using the puppy dog face that she always uses on me, but to no avail. I sigh and shift on the bed so that I'm sitting across from Alice Indian style. Alice looks at me expectantly again.

'OK, so Jake and I were driving towards the reservation…'

_We had been sitting in Jake's truck in silence for a few minutes now. We were already half way to the reservation._

'_So Bella, how was your weekend with Alice? Your dad told mine that you went shopping, and we all know how much you love shopping.' Jake says while grinning at me. _

'_It was alright actually. I mean, usually I'm not much for shopping, but shopping with Alice was kind uhm… different I guess.' The incident in Victoria's Secret springs to mind again. I have to remember to talk to Carlisle tonight about that._

'_What about you? What have you been up to?' I inquire._

'_Oh you know, just hanging with Sam and the guys.' He replies while keeping his eyes on the road._

_That's only the second time ever that he has mentioned this Sam. The first time he mentioned him was when he came round at my place a few days ago. I thought he always hang around with Quil and Embry. Than again, I haven't really seen Jake or spoken to him in like six weeks, a lot can change in that time I guess. And I mean a lot. I still can't get over the fact that he changed so much physically. The boy is made of muscle right now, before he was just plain old normal Jake. Six weeks of training can't change him that much, can it?_

'_Who is this Sam? You have only mentioned him twice now. And how did you get this big so fast? Doesn't that usually take a lot of time?'_

_He looks a bit uncomfortable at my questions and he shifts in his seat. 'Sam is a friend from the reservation. He and I didn't get along great at first, that's why I have never mentioned him. But some stuff happened and we kinda, like, discovered that we actually have a lot in common. So we started to hang out together. He exercises a lot and I guess I just picked that up too.' _

_He clears his throat awkwardly and I can just sense that there is something he isn't telling me. I'll just let it slide for now and ask about it later, because I have a more important question to ask him. By now we have arrived at his house and he pulls up on the muddy driveway. He turns off the truck and makes to get out of it, but I stop him with placing a hand on his arm. He turns to look at me quizzically._

'_I need to ask you something important.'_

_He laughs quietly. 'Can't it wait until we get out of the truck and into the shed? I would like to show you something.'_

'_No Jake, I really need to ask you now.' He looks me in the eye and he can sees that I'm being quite serious about this._

'_OK, shoot.' _

'_What is your problem with the Cullens? I mean, I could somehow understand that you didn't like Edward very much.' At Edward's name Jake visibly tenses and his face turns angry. 'But what is your problem with Alice? I didn't even know you two were acquainted somehow, let alone have a history as Alice put it.' I look at Jake questioningly, but so far no response is coming from him._

_We sit in silence for a few moments, and when he finally looks like he's going to respond, a hoot from outside interrupts him. We book look out of the windshield of the truck towards the tree line. Four boys are standing there, all without a t-shirt on, all in cut off shorts and all very bulky._

'_Who are they?' I ask Jake._

'_That's Sam, and the rest of the guys.' Jake rolls down the window in his door and hoots back to them. What the hell? I snigger and look at Jake funny. I thought guys always had this special handshake as a greeting. I haven't heard anyone at Forks High hooting to each other. _

_Jake gets out of the car and I jump out too, the four boys start walking towards us. It's a bit colder outside than I expected, so I put the jacket on that Alice gave me. As I fling it on, Jake tenses again and he visibly starts shaking. The other four boys have almost reached us by now and I can see one of them looking at me disgusted. What the hell is his problem? I don't even know the guy._

_They stop a few feet away from us and the one who is looking at me is shaking visibly too, just like Jake is, but worse._

_The biggest one of the four steps forward. 'Jake, would you like to introduce us to your friend.'_

_Jake looks at the guy and then turns towards me. 'Bella, this is Sam. Sam, Bella. The rest of the guys are Jared, Embry and Paul.' He gestures to them all as he introduces them. So, the guy who seems to not like me is called Paul. I wonder what his deal is. _

_A breeze swipes at me and I pull my jacket closer around me. The weird guy, Paul, growls and begins to shake even worse. Jake looks alarmed at him and Sam looks warningly._

'_Get it together Paul!'_

'_How can I?' He snaps at Sam. 'Everyone here can smell the bloodsucker stench on her!'_

_I am stunned at what Paul just said. He knows about the Cullens being vampires. How? And how come he can supposedly smell them on me? Humans can't smell vampires. What the hell is going on here?_

'_Paul!' Sam roars. 'You will calm down now.'_

'_How do you…? I mean, what are you talking…?' I turn to look at Jake, but he isn't looking at me, he's keeping his eyes trained on Paul, who decides to speak again._

'_I can't stand the stench of her. Why did you bring this filthy leech lover here, huh Jake?' Jake actually growls at Paul and looks like he wants to hurt him. I am one step ahead of him however, and before I know it, I'm standing in front of Paul and my palm is connecting with his face._

'_Do not talk like that about them or me! You don't know the Cullens and you certainly do not know me!' I yell at him. Paul snaps his head back to me, and the look of disgust on his face changes into one of pure anger and his body begins to convulse. _

'_Paul, stop it!' Sam roars again._

'_Bella get back!' Jake pulls me back by grabbing one of my arms and situates himself in front of me._

_I look at Paul to see that his body is still convulsing, then in a flash, he crumples forwards and what happens then just about shocks me. His body violently rips out off his clothes while he transforms into a… WOLF? What the hell?_

_Then Jake takes a step forward and he starts convulsing like Paul just did. I unconsciously begin walking backwards, still looking at Jake. He convulses one last time and he too transforms into a Wolf. Paul roars at him and Jake lunges at him, his massive jaws snapping violently at Paul's neck._

_Then everything around me starts fading. _


End file.
